The Refuge of the Toads

[blitzem]

Yep, the one I used had Fenugreek in it. Had to get it at a health food place where everyone was looking at me suspiciously as I am a middle-aged, cis-hetero, bearded white guy, but hey, it was worth it for the powder. Got some awesome samosas at the same time.

I don't get why they don't sell it at more places. I have to go to a fancy specialty spice place to buy it. Almost no ordinary grocery stores have it in their spice sections, even ones with a good selection of Indian spices.

Since fenugreek has a caramel/maple-like flavour, I'm thinking of trying it in something sweet like cookies. I only use it currently in savoury curries. It might be a disaster though. I'll find out the hard way.

They must have spotted you out as a cultural appropriator at the health food store. :lol:

Lol, probably. I briefly thought of making fun of them for the tofu potato chips, but figured they might chase me out by hurling the slightly brown organic tomatoes at me.

[comhcinc]

Skep tickle is the biggest troll of all.

[Semi]

Also Sony has a 6 album deal with her. IF she was smart she would take that deal knock those out in the next 2 years and get what money that she can.

She is literally just a "pretty face" that doesn't have any other talent.

That's not how record deals generally work. An album has to fit into release schedules and marketing plans, and has to be approved by the label (for an artist at Ke$ha's level). She just can't jam out 6 albums in 2 years. A six- album deal is generally a 5 year contract at minimum, mostly longer. Probably more like 7 years.

That being said, her career is basically over now. The label will never recoup their investments, and she will never recoup her advances.

I am not going to argue what you said because generally you are correct. In this case however I believe she can start recording albums for Sony to show a good faith attempt to fulfill her contract. She records the albums and delivers them to Sony the whole time being vocal about this case. I think Sony would take what they are given and make what money they can.

She doesn't want to record for Sony. She wants out of her contract.

And she's basically done. Artists like Ke$ha are like bananas. They have a very short shelf life if they are not constantly performing and releasing hits and making the scene, which she has NOT been doing for years. She's up against hitting her stale date. If she were supremely talented, then she might push on through this, but she can barely sing.

Nobody out there is waiting for the next Ke$ha album.

As far as the marketing equity on which her label spent their money, that's basically gone. When you hear the name Ke$ha you don't think about catchy tunes, club dancing, and having a good time. You think about something else entirely.

There's a small chance that her career might be rehabilitated, but it would take a dedicated producer devoting his time to a project like that.

In reality, if she sticks with Sony and puts out a couple of albums, her best bet would be to get dropped by the label after her new albums tank. This would release her to go elsewhere, but it's a not a given she would ever get signed by a major again.

[comhcinc]

You think you are arguing against me but really you are just behind.

[Skep tickle]

I salute your having the spoons to do this Skep. But this is a man who says his mother was not a woman in later years. Publicly. To make a point. On twitter.

[.tweet][/tweet]

Yes, but I can't help rubbernecking as the car does donuts in the living room.

Re the tweet, at least he's being consistent.

What I want to know is, did Steers' mother go from being a woman to a not-woman in a gradual process or did it happen all at once? If the latter, what day did it occur? :think:

Skep tickle is the biggest troll of all.

Ah, but since I'm not "a dwarf or giant in Scandinavian folklore inhabiting caves or hills" he will never figure it out. :mrgreen:

[feathers]

SZvan has offered her services as hired muscle at Conferences.

All you need to do is sidle up to her and murmur "I need leverage" - and the sunnies go on. 8-)

http://i.imgur.com/fYVyPv0.jpg

http://archive.is/kcqQZ

"Leverage is what I do". :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

She basically says she's a mercenary.

[feathers]

If people are worried about their conversation being recorded, you can turn off the video for YOU and it will display your google avatar for all, but you can still see everyone else who is using their cameras.
If you make a new separate google/gmail account with your pit name and avatar, that will help too.

And if that fails, there's always plastic surgery.

http://d3bekgu1sigg13.cloudfront.net/wp ... urgery.jpg

[rayshul]

Oh dear Steers your woman definition is a bit retarded.

[feathers]

I'm still not convinced Com is a horrible person. And I don't think he'd dox anyone after a Pit hangout.

Doxing you wouldn't be much fun. To trace you we'd just visit the Urgences at Nice Central Hospital and wait for you to turn up.

[Steersman]

Oh dear Steers your woman definition is a bit retarded.

Actually, I've just lapped you all - several times. ;-)

[Kirbmarc]

SZvan has offered her services as hired muscle at Conferences.

All you need to do is sidle up to her and murmur "I need leverage" - and the sunnies go on. 8-)

http://i.imgur.com/fYVyPv0.jpg

http://archive.is/kcqQZ

"Leverage is what I do". :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

She basically says she's a mercenary.

SZvan thinks that she's Harley Quinn or a member of the Leverage team.

She's an Internet Tough Gal.

What the fuck did you just fucking say about me, you little Slymer? I’ll have you know I graduated top of my class in the crash course of Radical Feminism, and I’ve been involved in numerous secret raids on the CFI site, and I have over 300 jars of male tears. I am trained in sneaky threats to your job and I’m the top doxxer in the entire FreeThoughtBlogs. You are nothing to me but just another target. I will wipe you the fuck out with precision the likes of which has never been seen before on this Earth, mark my fucking words. You think you can get away with saying that shit to me over the Internet? Think again, fucker. As we speak I am contacting my secret network of Skepchicks across the USA and your IP is being traced right now so you better prepare for the storm, maggot. The storm that wipes out the pathetic little thing you call your life. You’re fucking dead, kid. I can be anywhere, anytime, and I can get you fired in over seven hundred ways, and that’s just with a Google search. Not only am I extensively trained in IP tracing, but I have access to the entire arsenal of the FTB Horde and I will use it to its full extent to wipe your miserable ass off the face of the continent, you little shit. If only you could have known what unholy retribution your little “clever” comment was about to bring down upon you, maybe you would have held your fucking tongue. But you couldn’t, you didn’t, and now you’re paying the price, you goddamn idiot. I will shit fury all over you and you will drown in it. You’re fucking dead, kiddo.

[Steersman]

Steersman - couple of questions for you, if I could.

Below I'm using your definition of "woman" (human-who-produces-ova-or-bears-young, as opposed to a human-who-does-not-produce-ova-or-bear-young). I'll put woman in blue below to clarify that I'm using your definition.

Interesting questions which I’ll try to do justice to. Although you’ve kind of caught me without my ability-to-detect-metaphor module installed so I’m not sure if you’re a troll or not. ;-) In any case, without further ado:

1) What is your term for a person others might call a "woman" but who does not meet your definition of woman?

A person? Nominally – in name only – a woman? Generally find that ability of secondary importance.

2) How do you determine, when you meet, whether or not a person is a woman? Can you tell by looking? Is there a question or set of questions you ask? Do you actually ask?

As I was never terribly enthusiastic about having kids, it most often if not always hadn’t been an issue. When I had been merely “looking for a good time” or for some company – periodically worth its weight in gold, the ability to produce ova was not particularly important if not a potential liability. And the one time that I had asked, during some negotiations for such “services”, it was related to the genitalia that the “provider” might bring to the table rather than to the gametes they might have been able to produce. As “she” hadn’t had what I was looking for “she” withdrew “her” offer and we parted with no harm done or feelings hurt – or so I assume.

3) How do you determine if a person you've previously determined is a woman has become a non-woman since you made your prior determination? Does it matter?

No, it doesn’t matter.

4) Is a person who produces ova but cannot bear young a woman, under your definition? (All sorts of causes for this, including tubal ligation, tubal infertility, hysterectomy without oophorectomy, and others.)

Technically I would say yes as that particular definition does stipulate “produces ova” OR “bears young” which one might reasonably take as an inclusive “OR”. And, of course, that also encompasses the other possibility, i.e., the ability to bear young without having the ability to produce ova (your question #5). A case in point being the one we discussed earlier, the person with, apparently, an X-Y karyotype, no ovaries, but a undeveloped womb which was sufficiently stimulated with hormones to be able to gestate and bear twins using in vitro fertilization (I assume).

5) Is a person who does not produce ova but can bear young a woman, under your definition? ….

Answered in latter half of #4

6) Finally, is there anyone else you can point to who uses the same definition of woman as you do?

Well, the fact that most most dictionaries, including most medical ones, and most encyclopedias – Wikipedia in particular – more or less start off on that foot would seem to suggest that a rather large number of people do so – at least implicitly. It seems that it’s only when there is some necessity to get down to some brass tacks – as in the whole “trans women are women (yes or no?)” debacle – do people really start to give some thought to the implications and connotations of such terms. Unexamined lives and premises and all that.

And (forgive me Lord for what I’m about to do) apropos of which, you might want to take look at a comment by “Michelle” in one of Nugent’s threads, along with my response:

Michelle #368:

Current rhetoric erases that, reduces women to clothing and other superficial things rather than being female being essential to being in that class. ….

…. Self declaration doesn’t work, forcing everyone to believe a fiction doesn’t work, telling women the evidence of their own eyes is wrong doesn’t work. You actually need some criteria and some sense brought into this, in that it’s correct to say it’s having no definition that is the issue. You can’t work on a circular definition of woman as anyone that says they are a woman and a large definitional umbrella that only restricts if someone does something bad.

Indeed. Some of the most sensible things anyone has yet said on the issue, not just here but elsewhere. Apart from myself of course. :-)

While I think some of her other comments were a little iffy or wide of the mark, I kind of think she hit it out of the park with her “being female being essential to being in that class”. And before some attempt to dismiss that with some pseudo-intellectual blather about “gender essentialism”, I might refer them to the article on taxonomy, and argue that that is largely what definitions are all about: the shared characteristics which are essential to, which are the principal components of, the classes so defined.

But with all of the other things we all have to bring to the table, I find it a little disconcerting to say the least that so many, mostly women although that may be moot, insist on making one attribute, one relatively minor and ephemeral ability, the be-all and the end-all – kind of like selling themselves short. Reminds me of seeing a cartoon in Playboy, many years if not decades ago, which showed some woman (one assumes), who had apparently gone crazy, running naked through the streets of the business district yelling, “I’m free! I’m free!” And a businessman passing by had said, “Lady, no market is ever that bad.” :-)

[Kirbmarc]

Oh dear Steers your woman definition is a bit retarded.

Actually, I've just lapped you all - several times. ;-)

You are a sex robot after all.

[youtube]i8Q4XcW8z6Q[/youtube]

[Dick Strawkins]

Speaking of Ke$ha/Kesha...

From nearly four years ago....text in the bottom right corner.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-h2Hgj4xEucw/U ... t+cent.jpg

An apology, however, was made by Skep Sheik soon after that image was posted.

http://i.imgur.com/Na9ccnf.png

[paddybrown]

I think The Amazing Atheist is on to something with his latest rant:

[youtube]eFjndBbLDZc[/youtube]

What's happened in the Kesha case is that she applied for a preliminary injunction releasing her from her contract immediately, and the judge turned her down. She hasn't lost the case. Her case still has to be argued in court, and she will have the opportunity to produce evidence, witnesses and so on. She could still win. She just doesn't get a walkover.

Would you have understood that from just about any of the mainstream news reports?

[Steersman]

Oh dear Steers your woman definition is a bit retarded.

Actually, I've just lapped you all - several times. ;-)

You are a sex robot after all.

[.youtube]i8Q4XcW8z6Q[/youtube]

Not sure which definition you're using but I don't think it computes. Try this one:

vb, laps, lapping or lapped
....
16. (General Sporting Terms) (tr) to overtake (an opponent) in a race so as to be one or more circuits ahead

En passant, I think the Pit is close to lapping AtheismPlus at least twice (depending on how you parse that definition): some 345,000 posts here, about 116,000 at A+.

[feathers]

Yep, the one I used had Fenugreek in it. Had to get it at a health food place where everyone was looking at me suspiciously as I am a middle-aged, cis-hetero, bearded white guy, but hey, it was worth it for the powder. Got some awesome samosas at the same time.

I don't get why they don't sell it at more places. I have to go to a fancy specialty spice place to buy it. Almost no ordinary grocery stores have it in their spice sections, even ones with a good selection of Indian spices.

Since fenugreek has a caramel/maple-like flavour, I'm thinking of trying it in something sweet like cookies. I only use it currently in savoury curries. It might be a disaster though. I'll find out the hard way.

They must have spotted you out as a cultural appropriator at the health food store. :lol:

Recently a new shop called 'Dollarstore' popped up in the neighbourhood. They seemed to sell the usual china import junk household utensils and so, so I didn't pay much attention. But when I finally walked in the other day, I discovered they have a stash of exotic herbs- including fenugreek. A seldom sight in CPH, even though I have five large Arab/Mid-East supermarkets within a 500 metre radius.

[Shatterface]

I'm off to bed, but McDermott just posted over at Kiwi Farms that she is going to post another video soon.

Exactly. MunsterCheese is right. The only way through hell is to keep on pushing through.

Kamikaze pilots didn't hit their targets by backing off and crying about it.

"BONSAI!"

What is it with SJWs that makes them openly identify with the Axis powers?

(Another identified as a 'Social Justice Stormtrooper' quite recently.)

[Scented Nectar]

Did ego-stroking cause ReGreta to fall, Carrier-like, for a poe?

She's probably hornier than a horny toad. She's probably got such a wet-on for Ghomeshi due to his now famous S&M (or B&D or whatever the hip people are calling it these days) that it's soaked through whatever ugly clothing she's wearing today. I would put serious money on him being in her wank bank. Maybe even in her list of other people to think about while she's with her wife.

Sorry for any mind images that the above has caused. If I had any brain bleach, I'd pass it around.

[feathers]

I'm waiting for China and Islamism to go properly head to head.

You mean give each other head?

They may actually collide in the future with the Arabs about control of resources in Africa. Because no way are native dark-africans ever going to be in control of their own.

[Scented Nectar]

Steersman - couple of questions for you, if I could.

Below I'm using your definition of "woman" (human-who-produces-ova-or-bears-young, as opposed to a human-who-does-not-produce-ova-or-bear-young). I'll put woman in blue below to clarify that I'm using your definition.

1) What is your term for a person others might call a "woman" but who does not meet your definition of woman?

2) How do you determine, when you meet, whether or not a person is a woman? Can you tell by looking? Is there a question or set of questions you ask? Do you actually ask?

3) How do you determine if a person you've previously determined is a woman has become a non-woman since you made your prior determination? Does it matter?

4) Is a person who produces ova but cannot bear young a woman, under your definition? (All sorts of causes for this, including tubal ligation, tubal infertility, hysterectomy without oophorectomy, and others.)

5) Is a person who does not produce ova but can bear young a woman, under your definition? For example, if a person who previously produced ova but then underwent premature menopause becomes pregnant via in vitro fertilization with a donor egg, is she a woman during the pregnancy but not-woman before and after the pregnancy? Or, did she simply become not-woman once she reached menopause, regardless of whatever might happen after that?

6) Finally, is there anyone else you can point to who uses the same definition of woman as you do?

Using the fertility definition, I wonder what I am. I've been without a period for almost 2 years thanks to menopause, and after 1 year, they say I will never have a period again.

However, a few days ago, I had 2 signs of ovulation, including a familiar brief mittelschmerz (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mittelschmerz) in my left ovary, that I used to get once in a while. If I get a period in about 1 or 2 weeks, I am not going to be happy! :x
/TMI

[youtube]Gpu_PV3BTfI[/youtube]

[Dick Strawkins]

Steersman - couple of questions for you, if I could.

Below I'm using your definition of "woman" (human-who-produces-ova-or-bears-young, as opposed to a human-who-does-not-produce-ova-or-bear-young). I'll put woman in blue below to clarify that I'm using your definition.

1) What is your term for a person others might call a "woman" but who does not meet your definition of woman?

2) How do you determine, when you meet, whether or not a person is a woman? Can you tell by looking? Is there a question or set of questions you ask? Do you actually ask?

3) How do you determine if a person you've previously determined is a woman has become a non-woman since you made your prior determination? Does it matter?

4) Is a person who produces ova but cannot bear young a woman, under your definition? (All sorts of causes for this, including tubal ligation, tubal infertility, hysterectomy without oophorectomy, and others.)

5) Is a person who does not produce ova but can bear young a woman, under your definition? For example, if a person who previously produced ova but then underwent premature menopause becomes pregnant via in vitro fertilization with a donor egg, is she a woman during the pregnancy but not-woman before and after the pregnancy? Or, did she simply become not-woman once she reached menopause, regardless of whatever might happen after that?

6) Finally, is there anyone else you can point to who uses the same definition of woman as you do?

Using the fertility definition, I wonder what I am. I've been without a period for almost 2 years thanks to menopause, and after 1 year, they say I will never have a period again.

However, a few days ago, I had 2 signs of ovulation, including a familiar brief mittelschmerz (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mittelschmerz) in my left ovary, that I used to get once in a while. If I get a period in about 1 or 2 weeks, I am not going to be happy! :x
/TMI

[youtubeGpu_PV3BTfI[/youtube]

Gender fluid?

[Scented Nectar]

Yep, the one I used had Fenugreek in it. Had to get it at a health food place where everyone was looking at me suspiciously as I am a middle-aged, cis-hetero, bearded white guy, but hey, it was worth it for the powder. Got some awesome samosas at the same time.

I don't get why they don't sell it at more places. I have to go to a fancy specialty spice place to buy it. Almost no ordinary grocery stores have it in their spice sections, even ones with a good selection of Indian spices.

Since fenugreek has a caramel/maple-like flavour, I'm thinking of trying it in something sweet like cookies. I only use it currently in savoury curries. It might be a disaster though. I'll find out the hard way.

They must have spotted you out as a cultural appropriator at the health food store. :lol:

Lol, probably. I briefly thought of making fun of them for the tofu potato chips, but figured they might chase me out by hurling the slightly brown organic tomatoes at me.

I get them switching out meat for tofu, but what do they have against potatoes? :?

[Kirbmarc]

I'm waiting for China and Islamism to go properly head to head.

You mean give each other head?

They may actually collide in the future with the Arabs about control of resources in Africa. Because no way are native dark-africans ever going to be in control of their own.

If they clashed I expect that Islamism has better chances to win in Africa in the long run.

Muslims can easily portray themselves as homegrown saviors against the foreigners who "steal" African land, resources and women (yes, the latter will happen if China's male surplus problem stays as it is).

The Chinese have nothing to offer to Africans in terms of ideas, hopes, and dreams. They can get local authorities on their side only by corrupting them, and if Muslim movements become even more popular then the Chinese-backed authorities will be portrayed as oppressors in the pocket of foreign powers, just like Western-friendly governments were seen as puppets of the US or Europe.

Muslim countries have the money AND the ideology to offer. Islamism preaches a form of egalitarianism between Muslims which is purely Utopian (racism against black Africans is widespread in Arab countries) but is nonetheless more attractive to the local population than the Chinese form of non-ideological vaguely communist authoritarianism.

In the long run this could lead to anti-Chinese insurrections backed by Muslim countries, which would easily win the support of the local population by promising an egalitarian "Islamic State" over the "Chinese colonialism".

[Aneris]

Certainly a :nin:

still...

https://twitter.com/El_Cool_Arrow/statu ... 3298589696
:laughing-rollingyellow:

Jian Ghomeshi is a Canadian celebrity charged with sexual harassment and assault.

I think we all need to pause for a moment and think about this. This exchange was had by a "skeptic" that is not only named as a primo skeptic speaker by Atheism Plus douches, but by people like us, who have complimented her speaking ability. Not only does this woman write rape porn while fighting against rape culture, but she didn't know who Jian Ghomeshi was. And when she was informed of who Jian Ghomeshi was, she didn't have the common sense to realize she was trolled by someone who is not a moron like her and she reiterated that she would accept no money from this person...even though it was an obvious troll who obviously had no intention of giving her money to write her rape culture rape porn.

I'd say the empress has no clothes, but then I'd be helping her out with Chapter Three.

I didn't know who he was either. He's totally unknown on this side of the world. Everyone else, by virtue of seeing this shared around, knows something is “off” and can google. We then think it obvious from the comment, too, but it may not be as clear as we think in retrospect.

But her positions and posturing make Greta Christina the ridiculous character she is: shares the tribalism with the SJWs, including “media perpetuates Rape Culture” beliefs but then has her own fiction which is mysteriously different in (perhaps) such a tiny, nuanced way that it would be undetectable using the SJW's own instruments of text analysis even if magnified ten times. Her work would never get a free pass under Sarkeesian “analysis”. She shares this aspect with PZ Myers, who is perhaps worse since he endorses both directly, Sarkeesian and Christina.

She's also the most ridiculous “drawning lines in the sand” hypocrite of all SJWs. She was herself surrounded by extreme rape-insult comments and death wishes at Freethought Blogs until that became slightly unfashionable, yet was posturing intensely about decade old comments from other people (e.g. Amazing Atheist) that were in the same league. Or how she found the out-of-context confirmation bias turned reporting bias storify from Jadehawk about the SP convincing, when that was easily several magnitudes milder than Freethought Blogs style commentary all around her. This aspect was however shared by many, in particular Ed Brayton, who both knew about the nastiness yet still paraded on the moral high ground.

[Kirbmarc]

What's really came close to breaking my spirit sometimes is how much "Mainstream" sources accept SJW 'facts' at face value again and again. There's so rarely any accountability whatsoever.

The biggest asset of SJWs is their friendly portrayal in the media. It's easy to see why the mainstream media accept SJW ideology: it's simple and it brings in clicks.

SJW slogans are easy to understand and appeal to emotions. Explaining why those slogans are over-simplifications takes time and effort.

The truth often doesn't produce controversy and clickbait. "1 in 5 women are raped in college" is a simple title which appeals to the emotions of the readers. Concerned parents are suitably scared. College-age women are also scared. Everyone wants to check out what's going on.

The same is true for "Internet trolls hate women". People are familiar with the image of the Internet as a cesspool of insults and perverts. Politicians have used this trope to justify authoritarian laws, the Religious Right has used this trope in their crusade against porn, etc.

Pop culture, which usually lags years behind real life, still believes that there are little to no women on the Internet and that most of those who are on the Internet are either bratty young kids and slovenly basement dwellers at best and dangerous creeps at worst. (Unless they use more socially acceptable Internet services, like Facebook).

For all their talk about social change and fighting stereotypes the SJWs have used the common social stereotypes about the Internet as part of their propaganda. They're not shy about portraying their critics as disgusting nerds, man-babies or dangerous perverts.

Journalists know that moral outrages about the Internet sell. They also have the side-effect of demonizing the new media which are the potential competition for "traditional" journalism.

You'd expect that more "serious" newspapers wouldn't follow this tabloid trend, but the truth is that most people have short attention spans and not enough time to sit around and read detailed analyses of complex social phenomena.

A catchy title which plays on common social stereotypes and on visceral fears brings in much more money than the truth.

[Brive1987]

http://i.imgur.com/X69cq7x.png

[feathers]

Also Sony has a 6 album deal with her. IF she was smart she would take that deal knock those out in the next 2 years and get what money that she can.

She is literally just a "pretty face" that doesn't have any other talent.

I've never heard of a record contract the artist couldn't slither their way out of.

[comhcinc]

Also Sony has a 6 album deal with her. IF she was smart she would take that deal knock those out in the next 2 years and get what money that she can.

She is literally just a "pretty face" that doesn't have any other talent.

I've never heard of a record contract the artist couldn't slither their way out of.

Talk to Prince.

[Gumby]

http://i.imgur.com/X69cq7x.png

When I was five or six years old, I got separated from my mother and got lost in a shopping mall. A kindly security guard took me to the area designated for lost children, and comforted me until my mother came and got me. Again, I was six years old.

The fact that this is now a service performed on behalf of people who are are supposedly normally intelligent chronological adults depresses the hell out of me.

[Brive1987]

It really does underscore the point that we are dealing with damaged goods.

[ERV]

I like Kesha.

1-- Great workout music.
2-- Crazy fun blondes and uptight straight-laced brunettes go together like peanut butter and chocolate #mytype
3-- I'm surprised SJW are giving her case any attention. Kesha is 'transphobic':
[youtube]rH8Wg_3NOJQ[/youtube]

[feathers]

http://i.imgur.com/X69cq7x.png

When I was five or six years old, I got separated from my mother and got lost in a shopping mall. A kindly security guard took me to the area designated for lost children, and comforted me until my mother came and got me. Again, I was six years old.

The fact that this is now a service performed on behalf of people who are are supposedly normally intelligent chronological adults depresses the hell out of me.

I strongly suspect this is gesturing to create an imaginative a problem where there is none.

Suppose you start suggesting all conferences have a first-aid desk for buzzard attacks. You even offer a personal escort for people who have their ears pecked off. If you manage to convince enough conferences to adopt this policy, soon people start to believe there may be something going on even though no one has actually ever witnessed an avian incursion.

[Shatterface]

http://i.imgur.com/X69cq7x.png

When I was five or six years old, I got separated from my mother and got lost in a shopping mall. A kindly security guard took me to the area designated for lost children, and comforted me until my mother came and got me. Again, I was six years old.

The fact that this is now a service performed on behalf of people who are are supposedly normally intelligent chronological adults depresses the hell out of me.

I strongly suspect this is gesturing to create an imaginative a problem where there is none.

Suppose you start suggesting all conferences have a first-aid desk for buzzard attacks. You even offer a personal escort for people who have their ears pecked off. If you manage to convince enough conferences to adopt this policy, soon people start to believe there may be something going on even though no one has actually ever witnessed an avian incursion.

They'll take the lack of buzzard attacks as proof that the deterrent is working.

[screwtape]

Also Sony has a 6 album deal with her. IF she was smart she would take that deal knock those out in the next 2 years and get what money that she can.

She is literally just a "pretty face" that doesn't have any other talent.

I've never heard of a record contract the artist couldn't slither their way out of.

Though such a bind did lead to one of the most un-PC albums ever:

MI0000030877.jpg

(17.38 KiB) Downloaded 391 times

[Dave]

Here's an interesting article at Slate on how 'mansplaining' evolved from meaning a man explaining something to a woman under the assumption that he's more knowledgeable because he's a man and she's a woman to being a crude ad hominem meaning a man has said something a woman disagrees with.

I originally thought it referred to a mechanic bullshitting his way into making unnecessary repairs to a woman's car by blinding her with technical jargon, or someone explaining the off-side rule in patronising manner, etc.

And thats why is so quickly turned into a generic ad hominem, because despite the Slate articles claims, it never had a precise meaning. It was always just a man talking to a woman in a manner she did not like.

[deLurch]

At the end of last year 5 booksellers disappeared from HK & Thailand. These booksellers published & sold books about party leaders, gossip mostly about their private lives. Illegal to own in mainland China, but millions of mainlanders now visit HK, and these books did a brisk trade.The 5 disappeared over a couple of months, just vanished one after another. And then mysteriously turned up in mainland China, having 'voluntarily' smuggled themselves into China (no immigration record exists showing them legally exiting HK) to 'assist authorities with an ongoing investigation'.

Wait. Why did they disappear from Thailand?

[Dave]

Lena Dunham puts her considerabe brainpower into analyzing the case of popstar versus her alleged sexual assaulter, who also has her in a contract:

http://i.imgur.com/E4x7Lmb.png

As Dunham goes on to say:

http://i.imgur.com/n7DuqLi.png

So the American legal system fails to protect women from their attackers, in cases in which there is no surviving evidence that the woman was attacked apart from the woman's testimony.

Please PM me some spoons, I've used up all of mine trying to understand this.

"BELIEVE THE VICTIM!!!11!!"

Shes a victim. We know this because she said so, and we must always "BELIEVE THE VICTIM" (tm).

Now that we have established that, its inescapable that the legal system is horribly broken, not only is it failing to punish the EVIL MAN who made her a VICTIM, but its forcing her to continune to interact with him. Can you imagine having to work again and again with your ABUSER?!?! Its horrible. I cant even.

And this is what women have to put up with everyday. I blame the PATRIARCHY!

[Dave]

[youtube]edP0L6LQzZE[/youtube]

I am sure this is PZ's jam.

Really? I didnt see any squid.

[greylurker]

http://i.imgur.com/X69cq7x.png

When I was five or six years old, I got separated from my mother and got lost in a shopping mall. A kindly security guard took me to the area designated for lost children, and comforted me until my mother came and got me. Again, I was six years old.

The fact that this is now a service performed on behalf of people who are are supposedly normally intelligent chronological adults depresses the hell out of me.

I strongly suspect this is gesturing to create an imaginative a problem where there is none.

Suppose you start suggesting all conferences have a first-aid desk for buzzard attacks. You even offer a personal escort for people who have their ears pecked off. If you manage to convince enough conferences to adopt this policy, soon people start to believe there may be something going on even though no one has actually ever witnessed an avian incursion.

U.S. Army flypaper report hoax:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Troy

[Skep tickle]

Couple of areas I'd like to have you clarify, if you would be so kind. See in particular the portions in green. I'm de-emphasized in gray the sections you answered to my temporary satisfaction. :)

Steersman - couple of questions for you, if I could.

Below I'm using your definition of "woman" (human-who-produces-ova-or-bears-young, as opposed to a human-who-does-not-produce-ova-or-bear-young). I'll put woman in blue below to clarify that I'm using your definition.

Interesting questions which I’ll try to do justice to. Although you’ve kind of caught me without my ability-to-detect-metaphor module installed so I’m not sure if you’re a troll or not. ;-) In any case, without further ado:

1) What is your term for a person others might call a "woman" but who does not meet your definition of woman?

A person? Nominally – in name only – a woman?

"Noun, n. a word (other than a pronoun) used to identify any of a class of people, places, or things {common noun), or to name a particular one of these (proper noun)."

If nominally a woman, then a woman?

A rose by any other name...

Generally find that ability of secondary importance.
"That ability" meaning which ability? "Secondary importance" meaning there is/are other ability/ies that are primary importance - what are those, for you?

2) How do you determine, when you meet, whether or not a person is a woman? Can you tell by looking? Is there a question or set of questions you ask? Do you actually ask?

As I was never terribly enthusiastic about having kids, it most often if not always hadn’t been an issue. When I had been merely “looking for a good time” or for some company – periodically worth its weight in gold, the ability to produce ova was not particularly important if not a potential liability. And the one time that I had asked, during some negotiations for such “services”, it was related to the genitalia that the “provider” might bring to the table rather than to the gametes they might have been able to produce. As “she” hadn’t had what I was looking for “she” withdrew “her” offer and we parted with no harm done or feelings hurt – or so I assume.

But how do you tell when you meet a person in any/every RL context, not limited to meeting a person when you might be seeking a sex partner or potential mother for children?

As asked above: Can you tell by looking? Is there a question or set of questions you ask (or would ask)?

Does "it most often if not always hadn't been an issue" mean that most of the time you don't make a judgment as to whether or not a person is a woman?

3) How do you determine if a person you've previously determined is a woman has become a non-woman since you made your prior determination? Does it matter?

No, it doesn’t matter.

4) Is a person who produces ova but cannot bear young a woman, under your definition? (All sorts of causes for this, including tubal ligation, tubal infertility, hysterectomy without oophorectomy, and others.)

Technically I would say yes as that particular definition does stipulate “produces ova” OR “bears young” which one might reasonably take as an inclusive “OR”. And, of course, that also encompasses the other possibility, i.e., the ability to bear young without having the ability to produce ova (your question #5). A case in point being the one we discussed earlier, the person with, apparently, an X-Y karyotype, no ovaries, but a undeveloped womb which was sufficiently stimulated with hormones to be able to gestate and bear twins using in vitro fertilization (I assume).

But pregnancy, though uncommon, can occur after a woman has met the definition of menopause, either by the traditional route (a late-blooming egg develops) or by assisted reproductive technology. And uterine transplants have been done to allow women who have had hysterectomy to conceive. Then your definition isn't very precise or restrictive - starts getting kind of sloppy - oops.

In fact, given that uteruses have been transplanted, and delivery (AFAICT) is surgical, what's to prevent biological males from "bearing young" in the future?

The woman you referenced above was presumably thought to have no hope of pregnancy until a specialist identified her tiny uterus and proposed an attempt, crazy though it sounded at the time, to enlarge it via hormonal treatments. At what point along the way would you have said she 1st qualified to be called woman?

5) Is a person who does not produce ova but can bear young a woman, under your definition? ….

Answered in latter half of #4

6) Finally, is there anyone else you can point to who uses the same definition of woman as you do?

Well, the fact that most most dictionaries, including most medical ones, and most encyclopedias – Wikipedia in particular – more or less start off on that foot would seem to suggest that a rather large number of people do so – at least implicitly.

Ask around. See if you can find "rather a large number of people" in the general population who do, then show me/us that group. In fact, your reply to Michele (which i snipped out below) that only she and you were on the right track suggests quite the opposite.

It seems that it’s only when there is some necessity to get down to some brass tacks – as in the whole “trans women are women (yes or no?)” debacle – do people really start to give some thought to the implications and connotations of such terms. Unexamined lives and premises and all that.

Ah, so that's what it boils down to. In trying for precision in defining something in RL & biology you've managed to conclude that (in your opinion) not only are trans women not women, but that many women aren't women. As I suggested earlier, you might find "species" and "life" to offer interesting similar exercises in "get[ting] down to brass tacks" on those, too) - well, interesting if you recognize the difficulties in matching RL with a word.

<snip>

[Scented Nectar]

Yep, the one I used had Fenugreek in it. Had to get it at a health food place where everyone was looking at me suspiciously as I am a middle-aged, cis-hetero, bearded white guy, but hey, it was worth it for the powder. Got some awesome samosas at the same time.

I don't get why they don't sell it at more places. I have to go to a fancy specialty spice place to buy it. Almost no ordinary grocery stores have it in their spice sections, even ones with a good selection of Indian spices.

Since fenugreek has a caramel/maple-like flavour, I'm thinking of trying it in something sweet like cookies. I only use it currently in savoury curries. It might be a disaster though. I'll find out the hard way.

They must have spotted you out as a cultural appropriator at the health food store. :lol:

Recently a new shop called 'Dollarstore' popped up in the neighbourhood. They seemed to sell the usual china import junk household utensils and so, so I didn't pay much attention. But when I finally walked in the other day, I discovered they have a stash of exotic herbs- including fenugreek. A seldom sight in CPH, even though I have five large Arab/Mid-East supermarkets within a 500 metre radius.

I have a huge dollar store near me, but there's not a spice to be found there. It would be nice though, since the prices in those places are so good. I have to get it from an expensive store right now.

[Scented Nectar]

Steersman - couple of questions for you, if I could.

Below I'm using your definition of "woman" (human-who-produces-ova-or-bears-young, as opposed to a human-who-does-not-produce-ova-or-bear-young). I'll put woman in blue below to clarify that I'm using your definition.

1) What is your term for a person others might call a "woman" but who does not meet your definition of woman?

2) How do you determine, when you meet, whether or not a person is a woman? Can you tell by looking? Is there a question or set of questions you ask? Do you actually ask?

3) How do you determine if a person you've previously determined is a woman has become a non-woman since you made your prior determination? Does it matter?

4) Is a person who produces ova but cannot bear young a woman, under your definition? (All sorts of causes for this, including tubal ligation, tubal infertility, hysterectomy without oophorectomy, and others.)

5) Is a person who does not produce ova but can bear young a woman, under your definition? For example, if a person who previously produced ova but then underwent premature menopause becomes pregnant via in vitro fertilization with a donor egg, is she a woman during the pregnancy but not-woman before and after the pregnancy? Or, did she simply become not-woman once she reached menopause, regardless of whatever might happen after that?

6) Finally, is there anyone else you can point to who uses the same definition of woman as you do?

Using the fertility definition, I wonder what I am. I've been without a period for almost 2 years thanks to menopause, and after 1 year, they say I will never have a period again.

However, a few days ago, I had 2 signs of ovulation, including a familiar brief mittelschmerz (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mittelschmerz) in my left ovary, that I used to get once in a while. If I get a period in about 1 or 2 weeks, I am not going to be happy! :x
/TMI

[youtubeGpu_PV3BTfI[/youtube]

Gender fluid?

Only if you mean, real scientific gender (reproductive organs) instead of gender 'feelings' or 'identities'. No matter how much a trans 'woman' feels like a woman, he won't get periods, and he won't get that ovulation moisture (which is similar to horniness moisture) and which helps the sperm travel to the egg. They just can't do that stuff via mind control, even if they really, really believe they are female.

[blitzem]

I don't get why they don't sell it at more places. I have to go to a fancy specialty spice place to buy it. Almost no ordinary grocery stores have it in their spice sections, even ones with a good selection of Indian spices.

Since fenugreek has a caramel/maple-like flavour, I'm thinking of trying it in something sweet like cookies. I only use it currently in savoury curries. It might be a disaster though. I'll find out the hard way.

They must have spotted you out as a cultural appropriator at the health food store. :lol:

Lol, probably. I briefly thought of making fun of them for the tofu potato chips, but figured they might chase me out by hurling the slightly brown organic tomatoes at me.

I get them switching out meat for tofu, but what do they have against potatoes? :?

Starch. Too worried about it adding even more cheese to the backs of their thighs.

[blitzem]

Yep, the one I used had Fenugreek in it. Had to get it at a health food place where everyone was looking at me suspiciously as I am a middle-aged, cis-hetero, bearded white guy, but hey, it was worth it for the powder. Got some awesome samosas at the same time.

I don't get why they don't sell it at more places. I have to go to a fancy specialty spice place to buy it. Almost no ordinary grocery stores have it in their spice sections, even ones with a good selection of Indian spices.

Since fenugreek has a caramel/maple-like flavour, I'm thinking of trying it in something sweet like cookies. I only use it currently in savoury curries. It might be a disaster though. I'll find out the hard way.

They must have spotted you out as a cultural appropriator at the health food store. :lol:

Recently a new shop called 'Dollarstore' popped up in the neighbourhood. They seemed to sell the usual china import junk household utensils and so, so I didn't pay much attention. But when I finally walked in the other day, I discovered they have a stash of exotic herbs- including fenugreek. A seldom sight in CPH, even though I have five large Arab/Mid-East supermarkets within a 500 metre radius.

Ah, the Dollarstore. That magical place of whatever happened to be in the container that arrived from China that day.

[Scented Nectar]

Lol, probably. I briefly thought of making fun of them for the tofu potato chips, but figured they might chase me out by hurling the slightly brown organic tomatoes at me.

I get them switching out meat for tofu, but what do they have against potatoes? :?

Starch. Too worried about it adding even more cheese to the backs of their thighs.

:puke-front: Note to self: don't visualize thigh cheese.

[Matt Cavanaugh]

So, this past weekend, I visited an ice skating rink in a large city in northern California and there were a bunch of moslems at the rink. On the ice was one family: a dad with the bushy beard, a little boy, and a little girl in the hijab. The dad skated with the boy, helping him up when he fell, but ignored the girl. Then, when we were done and sat down on the benches to take off our skates, we spotted the mother pushing a toddler in a stroller. She wore the niqab and a heavy cloak (chador?). She was furiously looking about & scowling to see if anyone reacted to her. I'm thinking, 'The one thing I can see is your eyes, bitch.' So, yeah I scowled back.

In contrast, my date was wearing stretch tights. We held hands skating, & occasionally stopped to hug & kiss.

Outside on the street, a bunch of moslem men were milling about, jabbering away in goatspeak. No women in sight, of course. My date stripped off her sweater & we got into her car.

I found myself surprisingly offended by that niqab & by the absence of women on the street. It's a multi-ethnic city, and there were whites, blacks, Asians & latinos at the rink. Only the moslems stood out. Only the moslem women were segregated by attire and location & freedom of movement. It's been 15 years, but I worked downtown for many years, and they weren't around back then. I'm not going full steerzo and call for their deportation, but I do feel people should speak out and let these moslems know their discriminatory treatment of women in public is offensive & incompatible with our free society. I would not hesitate to do so were I to encounter this again.

[John D]

This is my favorite purchase at the dollar store. It is a one foot tall statue of a cow dressed like the magician Siegfried of Siegfried and Roy. It is so fucking weird I had to buy it. It is some kind of collectible that originally sold for something like $50.

download.jpg

(6.85 KiB) Downloaded 351 times

[Billie from Ockham]

[youtube]6bVZq2rAf4M[/youtube]
Obv noel needs to hang around here for the context appropriate pedophile discussions

IIRC, Noel has been here, but there's no way he'll risk his (imagined?) reputation as a neutral party to post here very often.

[JackSkeptic]

[youtube]6bVZq2rAf4M[/youtube]
Obv noel needs to hang around here for the context appropriate pedophile discussions

IIRC, Noel has been here, but there's no way he'll risk his (imagined?) reputation as a neutral party to post here very often.

I don't think he claims to be neutral, whatever that means, and his reputation is trashed anyway with SJW's. But I think any definition of 'sides' is flawed if someone wants to believe in what is true and express opinions on that basis.

[Billie from Ockham]

Artists like Ke$ha are like bananas.

Not true. Some were brown before they were bruised. Google "rihanna chris brown" for an example.

[jet_lagg]

Am I the only one who thinks that Jenny bears a strong resemblence to that
" LEAVE BRITTANY ALONE!!!11!1!1" chick?

I thought that was a guy.

I just remember blond hair, weeping, and a high pitched voice. I thought it was a woman, but it appears I was wrong.

Jenny still reminds me of that vid.

I really thought you guys were yanking my chain until I googled it. I haven't been this confused since Hanson.

[Tigzy]

@ Skeptickle

It's a bit like trying to debug a program, isn't it.

[Billie from Ockham]

@ Skeptickle

It's a bit like trying to debug a program, isn't it.

In my experience, bugs in programs are not moving targets.

[comhcinc]

I really thought you guys were yanking my chain until I googled it. I haven't been this confused since Hanson.

Don't feel bad, you are not that only one.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Cro ... r_identity

Over the years, following his mainstream success, Crocker gradually began to change his image from feminine to masculine, eventually having adopted a predominantly masculine appearance by 2012 and thereby garnering significant attention for being physically attractive.[82] Crocker stated of the attention, "I'm offended. The most irritating thing is guys I find attractive say, 'Oh my God -- you're so hot now.'" He stated that people should accept all of him instead of only the masculine side of him, and that dating is difficult for him because "[the guys] can't always accept that [he] used to dress up or that that's a part of [him] still and that [he still dresses up]. It's just annoying." Crocker added, "Even if it's a girl or a fan saying it -- I don't like when people put it that way. I can understand if I'm a more socially, traditional 'attractive' but I don't like when people phrase it like, 'You're hot now.'"...In a Queerty February 2014 interview, Crocker stated that he is reconsidering whether or not to transition to a female gender identity. "I think I'm getting tired of that chameleon lifestyle," he stated. "Like I said, I know I would be 100 percent happy living as a girl. But it's a lot of work, and it's a lot of therapy you have to go through. And I'm willing to put in that work." He added,

[Shatterface]

Who is Esha and why is Twitter calling her a freek? That's not even how you spell it.

#freekesha

[feathers]

In contrast, my date was wearing stretch tights.

That quite unusual for a horse, Matt. A horsecloth, perhaps, but tights?

[feathers]

@ Skeptickle

It's a bit like trying to debug a program, isn't it.

In my experience, bugs in programs are not moving targets.

They sometimes are; the so-called Heisenbug disappears or changes behaviour when put under observation.

And of course, many bugs only appear under a certain set of (input) conditions, which may be difficult to reproduce on demand.

[Matt Cavanaugh]

This is my favorite purchase at the dollar store. It is a one foot tall statue of a cow dressed like the magician Siegfried of Siegfried and Roy. It is so fucking weird I had to buy it. It is some kind of collectible that originally sold for something like $50.

download.jpg

Was it part of a Siegfried & Roy series, or a cow series?

[Billie from Ockham]

In my experience, bugs in programs are not moving targets.

They sometimes are; the so-called Heisenbug disappears or changes behaviour when put under observation.

I am nowhere near smart enough to write that kind of bug.

And of course, many bugs only appear under a certain set of (input) conditions, which may be difficult to reproduce on demand.

Unfortunately, the conditions required for my bugs to emerge are easy to reproduce: you simply run the program.